Analyst upgrades:

• Citigroup upgraded Emergency Medical Services (NYSE: EMS) to Hold from Sell as it believes earnings estimates and valuation multiples could expand should Congress extend insurance coverage to the currently uninsured. The firm raised its target on shares to $38 from $29.
• JPMorgan upgraded Deutsche Bank (NYSE: DB) to Neutral from Underweight on expectations the company's fixed income business will drive earnings.
• KeyBanc expects U.S. Steel (NYSE: X) to benefit from a global recovery in flat-rolled products and a potential stabilization in energy end markets. The firm upgraded shares to Buy from Hold.
• Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Soleil.
• Pinnacle Financial (NASDAQ: PNFP) was upgraded to Equal Weight from Underweight at Stephens.
• BP Plc (NYSE: BP) was raised to Buy from Hold at ING Group.

Analyst upgrades:

• Empire District Electric (NYSE:EDE) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Jefferies on valuation. The firm raised its target to $18.50 from $16.
  
• Actividentity (NASDAQ:ACTI) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Soleil and its target was increased to $3.25 from $2.50 on valuation.
  
• Merrill upgraded Phototronics (NASDAQ:PLAB) to Buy from Underperform citing cost reductions, the amended credit agreement, and expectations for growth after the January quarter.

Analyst downgrades:

• Roth Capital downgraded RTI Biologics (NASDAQ:RTIX) to Hold from Buy and lowered its target to $3 from $6 following its negative Q4 negative pre-announcement.
  
• Morgan Joseph said Ceradyne (NASDAQ:CRDN) will not ship any new X-SAPI body armor in Q4 due to a contract protest by a competitor. The Army has decided to seek new bids but CRDN management expects to win a similar order in late January with deliveries expected in late 1Q09. Shares were downgraded to Hold from Buy.

Analyst initiations:

• William Blair initiated Grand Canyon (NASDAQ:LOPE) with an Outperform rating. The firm believes the company has strong growth prospects amid a favorable industry backdrop.
  
• Keefe Bruyette resumed coverage of Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) with a Market Perform rating and $12.50 target, citing financial guaranty market instability.
• Capital Source (NYSE:CSE) was reinstated with a Neutral rating at Credit Suisse.
  
• Yongye Biotechnology (OTC:YGYB) was initiated with a Buy rating and $3.50 target at Roth Capital.

Analyst upgrades:

• Goldman upgraded Bed Bath & Beyond (NASDAQ: BBBY) to Buy from Neutral based on valuation and a potential margin rebound at Linens N' Things.
  
• Citigroup upgraded Rockwell Automation Inc. (NYSE: ROK) to Hold from Sell on valuation and believes expectations have been reset to a reasonable level. The company's target was lowered to $27 from $33.
  
• Friedman Billings upgraded shares of Ceradyne (NASDAQ: CRDN) to Outperform from Market Perform on valuation following the recent weakness and thinks the Army will move forward with a larger XSAPI procurement in FY09. The firm raised their target to $30 from $26.
• Goldman added Wyeth (NYSE: WYE) to the Conviction Buy List.
  
• Equity Residential (NYSE: EQR) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at UBS.
  
• Analog Devices (NYSE: ADI) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley.

Analyst downgrades:

John Reese is an expert in analyzing the investment criteria of "legendary" advisors with time-tested strategies. And one market approach that may be of particular interest to investors during the current period of market turmoil is the value strategy developed by Benjamin Graham. (For more on this strategy, see our other post, "Three Rules of Value Investing".)

In his Validea newsletter, John reese explains, "Benjamin Graham -- considered the greatest investment guru by Warren Buffett -- built his reputation by using an extremely conservative, low-risk approach to investing." Buffett, incidentally, was Ben Graham's student.

Reese continues, "To Graham, preserving one's original capital was every bit as important as netting big gains. Having lived through the 1929 market crash, it's no surprise that the strategy Graham laid out in his classic book The Intelligent Investor was a conservative, loss-averse approach.

"To Graham, an investment wasn't something that could be turned into quick, easy profits; anything that offers such 'easy' rewards also comes with substantial risk, and Graham abhorred risk. In terms of specifics, Graham's approach limited risk in a number of ways, and my Graham-based model lays out several of those methods.

Shanda Interactive (NASDAQ: SNDA) is up 7% on strong earnings.

HSBC (NYSE: HBC) is almost 3% higher on a rally in global banks stocks.

Ceradyne (NASDAQ: CRDN) is off 14% on weak earnings.

Sirius (NASDAQ: SIRI) is up over 2% on better than expected EPS.

Stocks may trade differently in the pre-market than they do in the regular session.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

Last week Forbes released its annual list of the fastest growing tech stocks, and it shouldn't be much of a surprise that Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) topped the list, with nearly $15 billion in sales, representing five-year sales growth of 155%, and 30% EPS growth. To make the list, companies had to have significant sales growth over the past year and five years, as well as a good earnings forecast for the next three to five years. Companies with significant legal problems or corporate governance issues were excluded.

Rounding out the top five were Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM), Ceradyne Inc. (NASDAQ: CRDN), Euronet Worldwide Inc. (NASDAQ: EEFT), and FalconStor Software Inc. (NASDAQ: FALC). Some other familiar names that made the list this year include Red Hat Inc. (NYSE: RHT), L-3 Communications (NYSE: LLL), Adobe Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: ADBE), and Cognizant Technology Solutions (NASDAQ: CTSH). Cognizant has been on Forbes list since its inauguration six years ago. For the full list, see the Forbes article.

Also of interest was the Forbes Fast 15, companies that didn't make the list mentioned above, but which Forbes thought were worth keeping an eye on for their potential. Engineering software maker Ansys Inc. (NASDAQ: ANSS), semiconductor maker Atheros Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: ATHR), Brubaker BioSciences Corp. (NASDAQ: BRKR), and scoreboard maker Daktronics Inc. (NASDAQ: DAKT) top that list. For the full list, see the Forbes article.

So if, like Aaron Katsman, Georges Yared, and Jim Cramer, you are bullish on tech stocks, then there's plenty on the Forbes lists worth taking a look at.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: American Home Mortgage Investment Corp (AHM), MasterCard Inc (MA) and the selective railroad companies were today's more notable initiations:

• JMP Securities started American Home Mortgage (NYSE: AHM) with a Market Perform frating citing the challenging mortgage market.

• UBS started MasterCard (NYSE: MA) with a Buy and doesn't believe margin upside is fully reflected in the stock's valuation.

• Morgan Stanley initiated five railroad companies: Union Pacific Corp (NYSE: UNP) and Norfolk Southern Corp (NYSE: NSC) with Overweight ratings and Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp (NYSE: BNI), Canadian Natural Resource Ltd (NYSE: CNQ) and CSX Corp (NYSE: CSX) with Equal Weight ratings.

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• Ceradyne, Inc (NASDAQ: CRDN) was initiated with a Neutral rating at First Albany.

• United Therapeutics Corp (NASDAQ: UTHR) was started with a Buy rating and $81 target at Citigroup.

• Goldman Sachs initiated shares of Aruba Networks, Inc (NASDAQ: ARUN) with a Neutral rating and $16.50 target.

• Saks Inc (NYSE: SKS) was started at Bear Stearns with a Peer Perform rating.

Analyst summaries provided by TheFlyOnTheWall.com (subscription required).

On last night's MAD MONEY on CNBC, Jim Cramer discussed the ramifications of Iran if things get worse. He laid out a "what to do" plan if you wake up one morning and the headlines are horrible. He has a four point strategy for an "Iran Gone Awry" scenario:

First, a drug company, because drug companies don't need a strong economy. Cramer likes Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT), which is even more immune to other drug company problems because it is at its highs. (He doesn't like Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE), Merck & Co. (NYSE: MRK) or Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY)). The 16x P/E and the 14% growth rate make ABT cheap and it sold off two units. He likes its Humira drug as a multi-purpose drug and its stent looks like it may be the best out there.

Second, a company tied to oil, but one that won't get hurt if we get cut off from Middle East oil. Cramer chose Kinder Morgan Energy Partners (NYSE: KMP) but he warns not to buy the wrong Kinder Morgan. This one is a safer high-yield one, he says as it transports via its pipelines and transfers other commodities besides oil and gas.

On tonight's MAD MONEY on CNBC, Cramer discussed oil services and foreign names you can invest in. He's also backing Capital One Financial (NYSE:COF) and Ceradyne Inc. (NASDAQ:CRDN).

His No. 4 favorite pick outside the U.S. is CVRD-Companhia Vale do Rio Doce (RIO-NYSE/ADR). He'll be making more of these predictions this week, but here's what he likes about this one.

Cramer called for a bottom in oil services' stocks. He was positive on Schlumberger Ltd. (NYSE:SLB) and even ticked up the Oil Service HOLDRS (AMEX:OIH). Here is his full note with a large list of oil service tickers that he didn't mention.

He laid the scenario that Capital One earnings weren't the issue and the recent rise is justified after earnings; he even says it could go to $100.00.

Cramer interviewed Joel Moskowitz, CEO of Ceradyne, and basically tries to refute the recent SELL rating from FBR. Cramer is going with the bulls on this one and trusts the company.


Jon Ogg is a partner in 24/7 Wall St., LLC; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.